Halifax Gibbet

Halifax Gibbet Reviews

According to different websites it may have been the beggar's litany, the thieves' litany or the Dalesman's litany - the three H's appear in practically any order.

The one I learned was 'From Hell, Hull and Halifax, Good Lord, deliver us.'

We all know what Hell is supposedly about. Hull may have either been in the trio for its prison or as a transportation port. Halifax was included for its gibbet.

As a boy I remember Gibbet Hill north of Tavistock in Devon, where there was a structure with an arm from which people were hanged - and until I came to live in Yorkshire, I always equated the word 'gibbet, with that. The Halifax gibbet is nothing of the sort. It was a machine like a guillotine, which I used to think was never used in England. Just how wrong can you get?

According to Wikipedia its first recorded use was in 1286 and the last in 1650. Apparently its use in Halifax continued for some time after it discontinued elsewhere in England. The original blade is on exhibit in banksfield Museum, Halifax.